Captain Ling Liong Tien, Chief Safety Officer & Head of Advance Air Mobility (Capital A)
In this week’s Global Drone Conference Sponsor Highlight, we interviewed Captain Ling Liong Tien, Chief Safety Officer & Head of Advance Air Mobility (Capital A).
1. What are you excited to see at the Global Drone Conference 2022?
We are looking forward to meet and greet the Malaysia’s Drone industry players. More importantly, we are excited to witness the latest and greatest technologies showcasing practical use cases for drone and advanced air mobility tech. It will also provide us with an opportunity to connect with the other players in this industry and learn from each other. As the first Remote Pilot Training Organization (RPTO) approved by Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), we are thrilled to promote our drone training courses as well.
2. What differentiates AirAsia Drones from other Malaysian drone companies?
Coming from an aviation background, we complement the drone industry with strong knowledge of commercial aviation rules and regulations. We focus on training drone pilots to be as knowledgeable as a commercial airline pilot and to operate safely and be efficient in the operations. Our training courses are also Human Resource Development (HRD) Corp claimable which means company contributing to this fund can use their existing training fund to join the course.
We set the standards high as we are the first airline RPTO to be certified by CAAM. As the aviation industry is highly regulated, we leverage on our strong understanding of the CAAM regulations and directives. This means that we understand the needs of CAAM on their part as a safety and security regulator and able to fulfill the requirements to obtain the necessary approval for drone operations.
3. What is AirAsia Drone’s role in the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS)?
We provide a strong use case for urban drone delivery sandbox which aims to conduct a POC (Proof of Concept). We are also commercially ready to scale when the POC is proven successful. As part of the collaboration with NTIS working group we are able to provide real time data, analytics and insights on demand for urban drone delivery and its business viability.
4. AirAsia Drones has been eyeing cargo drone deliveries as the “next frontier,” with plans to expand your network within the Klang Valley in Kuala Lumpur to support your intended drone operations. According to reports, the drone operations team will work with other businesses in the AirAsia ecosystem — including your logistics arm, Teleport. Tell us more about that.
Teleport is our logistics arm that focuses on moving big items to delivering small parcels. Drone fits into this ecosystem especially the first mile and mid mile delivery.
Santan is our chain restaurant where we are looking into food delivery using drones.
AirAsia Xpress is another option where drone can help to speed up delivery under 1 hour for small parcels
5. What are the setbacks within the drone industry that need to be overcome and what are misconceptions that the public still have about industrial drones?
Rules and regulations
As mentioned, we are very well versed in the aviation legislation framework. However, as the regulations for the drone industry is relatively new, it will take time for the directive to be fully implemented.
One important aspect of this is the full package of the drone regulations. The current Malaysia Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) 2016 and its amendments is not yet amended which means the full package of Open, Specific and Certified Category for Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is not able to reach it’s full potential.
Limitations
The limitations in terms of infrastructure for drones needs to be overcome before we can see the maturity of drone flying in our airspace. Things like safe landing and take off spaces especially in urban area may be hard to come by. Although there are some ideas on the drone nesting currently in market, it has yet to be fully implemented mainly due to costing.
Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM)
As mentioned in the rules and regulations, in order to ensure safety and security of the public, UTM will need to be implemented for the industry. UTM enables a seamless integration between Air Traffic Management (ATM) and allow the drone to be flown safely and legally in any type of settings. The challenge remains where the regulator will need to procure the service of the UTM. The cost of procuring the UTM service might be huge and this could be something that the regulator would have to overcome.
Public Perception
One of the main concern of public is that the drones are abused by the criminals causing issues such as privacy. Public look at drones as a flying camera and is worried that the drones can infringe the privacy of public.
Cost
The capital expenditure for a drone may be significantly higher than using other means. For example, in order to make drone delivery a viable cost model, we will need to make sure the cost of delivery comparable to our current common mode of transport. By rule of thumb, the drone delivery is generally 6 times faster than using conventional delivery options but the public will weigh the importance of the parcel and the urgency to get it delivered. The current sentiment remains that the public is still not willing to pay extra to get the parcel delivered 6 times faster.
6. Do you have a message you would like to share with our readers?
We look forward to meet and greet our audience in the upcoming GDC2022. We offer special rebates for our CAAM certified drone courses. Do visit our booth for the special rebate.
AIRASIA DRONES WILL BE EXHIBITING AT THE INNOVATE TECH SHOW 2022 HELD AT MATRADE KUALA LUMPUR FROM 19-21 OCTOBER 2022 WHERE THE GLOBAL DRONE CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION IS CO-LOCATED.
Captain Ling Liong Tien WILL ALSO BE SPEAKING ON THE MAIN STAGE. REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FREE PASS AND EVENT UPDATES.
